“I’ve heard many bad stories about you, and you must admit that most of them are true!” Or were they just the product of a fertile imagination? Either way, I will love you and leave you for the fiftieth time with this…

Move over, Paris! An introduction to Tokyo, the official gourmet capital of the world, ranging from the Michelin Diet of my imagination to the real-life American supermodel peanut butter diet and everything in between. Includes some practical advice for tourists visiting Japan and Taiwan on a budget and some irreverent comments about Japanese “obatarian” (battleaxes) and Starbucks.

Just when you thought it was safe to dine out… Sometimes it is better not to know those secret ingredients in the food and drinks we consume, but in some circumstances, such lack of knowledge could kill us. When it comes to food poisoning, no one is immune and nowhere is safe! My first job in Japan leads to me question some aspects of food safety and hygiene in advanced countries.

I have been called many things in my time, but "Billy Idol gone wrong" surely takes the cake! Look beyond the differences in fashion sense and demeanour, however, and his fans might be surprised to discover that my supposed antithesis and I actually have some things in common. A reflection on how we expatriates come to assimilate physically in our adopted countries either by accident or design.

Japanese naked communication was once too much for prudish American sailors to take, but attitudes had changed significantly by the time Marilyn Monroe arrived in Tokyo on her honeymoon. Today, people come from all over the world to engage in the practice, often unaware that there is more to it than just hot water. Here, I discuss the dynamics of communal bathing from a multicultural perspective.

When I was a mischievous tyke in Melbourne, no one imagined I would grow up to be an Australian lawyer, let alone a New York attorney or law professor in Japan. If my family had only been paying attention, however, they would have seen the signs when I dutifully removed my pyjamas at the door at the age of three. Naughty, but nice!

Take an ordinary Australian boy, add some breakfast cereal, send him to school, and see what happens… Was it fate that led me to become a permanent resident of Japan, or am I simply another example of permissive parenting gone wrong? One man’s story of how he became a pioneering, expatriate law professor in Japan despite having no family connections to this country.

Discretion may be my middle name, but it would be a disservice to some of my younger and more impressionable readers not to share at least one celebrity kiss-and-tell story of my own. Although the contents will almost certainly not be what you expect, they should still leave you feeling warm and fuzzy in a Hollywood sort of way. The lesson to be learned is that a single kiss can change a life.

In East Asia, there is no escaping the many charms of Hello Kitty. Although the real Kitty White lives just down the road from me at Sanrio Puroland and has officially made her presence known at the campus where I work, she still remains very much a woman of mystery in some important respects...